Cal Coach Mark Madsen Deflects Talk About ASU Job Opening

Mark Madsen, who has taken Cal basketball from a three-win season the year before he arrived to a 21-win season and an NIT bid in his third campaign, may be attracting attention from schools seeking a new coach.

The Athletic included Madsen on a list of nine potential candidates for the job vacancy at Arizona State in a story published on March 11.

Before introducing nine possibilities to replace Bobby Hurley after 11 seasons in Tempe, The Athletic explained why it views the ASU job as a good one.

“The good news for Arizona State is that it immediately becomes one of the more desirable jobs available in a coaching carousel in which no Top 25 gigs are expected to open,” the outlet wrote. “And while joining the Big 12 comes with its obvious challenges — notably as the most top-heavy league in the sport — the combination of modest expectations and decent resources makes this a more appealing job than some might expect.”

Madsen, who is 48-49 at Cal headed into Wednesday’s NIT opener at home vs. Illinois-Chicago, was asked about the situation on Monday and mostly deflected the topic.

“I would just say at this time of year there’s always going to be outside noise, outside speculation,” he told reporters. “And our entire focus is on building something truly special here at Cal, on preparing for these games.”

Madsen signed a two-year contract extension in March 2024, so he is currently under contract with Cal through the 2029-30 season.

The Bears (21-11) are a No. 2 seed in the Albuquerque region of the 32-team NIT. The Flames (19-15) finished in a tie for third place in the Missouri Valley Conference and will arrive in Berkeley having won 14 of their past 19 games. Tipoff at Haas Pavilion is 8 p.m.

“We’ve been grinding, the players have been grinding. Our focus is to win the NIT,” Madsen said. “You can’t achieve that focus is you don’t play a great first game against UIC because UIC is extremely talented, they’re extremely well-coached.

“So this is the time of the season to focus on the most important things, which is winning basketball games.”

Here’s what The Athletic had to say about Madsen:

“Mark Madsen, head coach, California: After consecutive losing seasons to start his time in Berkeley, Madsen has engineered an epic turnaround, guiding the Golden Bears to 21 wins and the NCAA Tournament bubble. That’s nothing short of miraculous, given Cal’s nearly nonexistent name, image and likeness infrastructure, and speaks to the caliber of coach the “Mad Dog” has become. Madsen, 50, is a career West Coast guy with high-major experience, but is still young enough to be the Sun Devils’ long-term answer. He’s gained a lot of fans across the industry for the job he’s done this season.”

Including four seasons at Utah Valley, Madsen has a Division I coaching ledger of 70-51. He served as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers for six seasons after a nine-year NBA playing career and a starring role as a power forward at Stanford.

The Athletic also listed the likes of Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s) Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State), Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon) former NBA head coach David Fizzle and Russell Turner (UC Irvine) as potential candidates at ASU. None of them has been officially linked to the ASU job search.

ASU is sometimes mentioned as a college basketball sleeping giant, but it rarely has worked out that way.

Hurley, the former All-America point guard at Duke, got the Sun Devils into the NCAAs just three times in 11 seasons. ASU twice won First Four opening games, but lost all three times in the first round of the tournament’s main draw.

After losing records the two previous seasons, ASU inched above .500 this year at 17-16 but was just 7-11 in a rugged Big 12 Conference.

Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek, when he coached at ASU, led the team to the second round of the 2009 NCAAs, equipped with star sophomore guard James Harden.

Bill Frieder coached the Sun Devils into the Sweet 16 back in 1995, two years before Cal did it under coach Ben Braun in 1997.

ASU’s best basketball season was 51 years ago. The Sun Devils, led by future NBA standout Lionel Hollins, went 25-4 and lost in the regional finals of the 1975 NCAA tournament to eventual national champion UCLA in John Wooden’s final season.

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